The Dragonstones Trilogy

She was tired. After staying up past her bedtime, five-year-old Sara had found it hard to fall asleep. Sara heard the door open, then shut. Sara felt a rush of excitement. Daddy was home! Sara’s dad served in the army, and was seldom home. But that just made the moments they had together even more special. Sara jumped out of bed, and ran to meet him. She heard Mommy and Daddy speaking in hushed tones. “Daddy?” Sara knocked on the door. There was silence on the other end, then the door opened.

Sara’s father looked down at her, a smile on his face. The smile seemed forced, though, and there were bags under his eyes that suggested he had not slept in a long time. Sara ignored them, and gave her dad a hug.

“Sara, aren’t you supposed to be in bed?” Daddy asked, still smiling tightly.

“I wanted to say hi to you, Daddy.” Sara said. “When are you going back?” Sara wanted as much time with her dad as possible.

“I'm afraid Daddy is only going to stay for a little bit. I’m leaving next week.”

Sara nodded, trying to hide her disappointment. Suddenly, she poked her dad, and ran off shrieking. She could hear from the heavy footsteps that he was following her. The simple game always was fun for Sara. They would take turns poking each other, then run off expecting the other to poke them back.

After a little while, the atmosphere changed. Something was wrong. Sara felt a wave of dread wash over her. Daddy must have felt it, too, because he paused. The light in the living room, where they were playing, flickered, then went out. The room was bathed in blackness.

“Sara, listen to me very carefully, and don’t ask any questions, okay?” Daddy said. He sounded grim.

“Okay.” Daddy would make it all right. It was only the dark, after all.

“Take Mommy and go to your ultimate hiding spot. You know what I’m talking about.”

“Yes. But how will Mommy fit?” Whenever Daddy and Sara played hide and seek, Sara would always hide in the same place: under the computer desk. To the common observer, the tangled network of wires made it look like nothing could fit in between. When Sara had first discovered the amazing hiding space, it had taken her dad two hours to find her, even then with hints. Sara could feel the panic building up inside of her. Daddy was starting to scare her.

“She can hide well, like you. Now hurry. Pretend you and Mommy are playing hide and seek, and you can’t let anyone find you.”

“What about you?”

“I’ll be all right. It will all be okay.”

It had not been okay. Sara woke up with her dad’s voice echoing in her head. She almost jumped out of bed, trying to forget the memory. She turned the radio on as loud as she could so she could forget. Last night, she had had a rough time already, but it didn’t help that the nightmares were getting worse.

Sara brushed her dark brown hair, and didn’t bother doing it. She grabbed a nutrition bar and snatched up her backpack as she ran out the door. Sara made sure she brought her phone and headphones. The music and the games on her phone together were sure to shut down her brain. Right then, Sara could do without thinking about the nightmare and last night and the events before it.

The bus came five minutes late today, so Sara would have to hurry, but she could still be on time. As Sara boarded the bus and found an empty seat, she let her thoughts wander. She was at her school before she knew it.

Sara reached her first class on time, and was able to pick a seat that was not next to Victoria. Sara sat reading a fantasy novel when the teacher introduced the year’s first new student. “This is James Robinson.” Sara glanced up briefly at the boy, than quickly looked down at her book. James was wearing a bright orange shirt, and even seemed to have a faint glow. He was the boy she had knocked into the day before.

James smiled and took the seat next to Sara. The class dragged on, and the only thing worthy of mentioning was when James wrote something in his notebook, and passed it to her. It read: We need to talk. Lunch hour sound good? James’s handwriting was messy, and Sara was proud she was able to translate the sloppy letters.

Sara wrote back: Sure. I usually sit next to a window.

James nodded, and turned his attention back to the whiteboard. Sara observed that she felt that safe feeling again. Sara smiled wryly to herself. She may be going crazy thinking her nails changed into claws, but she felt safe.

All throughout English, math, and science Sara felt strangely excited to have someone sit with her. Sara tried to shrug it off, but she realized how much she missed having a friend. When the lunch bell rang, Sara had two reasons to leave: to end the torture of doing math, and to see James again. So far, they had only first hour together.

Sara was already sitting at her usual table when James sat down. Sara knew he was there, but she didn’t look up. Instead, she starred down at an uneaten apple, determined not to look at him. Sara knew it was silly, but she couldn’t help it. Years of antisocial tendencies shaped her every move, whether she liked it or not.

About ten minutes later, James spoke. “Hi.” He didn’t seem to mind the silence, though Sara knew it should have been awkward for him. She felt kind of bad, but it had been so long since she’d talked to anyone.

Sara looked up. “Hi,” she said, not knowing what else to say.

“You look a lot better than yesterday.” Sara looked down, embarrassed. Of course he remembered her for that. She felt her face get hot.

“I wasn’t feeling my best yesterday,” she admitted. Her face still hadn’t returned to normal.

“I’m glad you feel better, then.”

Sara finally dared to look up at James, and blinked to make sure she was seeing right. “Why are you glowing?” She asked him, forgetting for a second how crazy it should have sounded. James was humming, surrounded by a bright orange light.

“Oh.” James stopped humming, and the glow went away. “It must be the light, or this shirt.”

“Yeah. . .That’s what it is.” Sara looked at the table again, wondering just how crazy she was becoming.

James said, “I’m sure you have some pretty cool talents yourself. It okay if I sit here tomorrow? I’m not that great at making friends.” Sara was sure that James could have made all the friends she wanted, but she didn’t let it show. She liked having a friend, and James wasn’t that hard to look at. He was definitely not hard to look at. The Victoria she used to know would have called him cute.

“Sure, I guess.” She replied. Unable to help herself, she smiled.

“Thanks.” James looked down at his schedule. “If I’m not wrong, it looks like we have art together. That’s fifth hour.”

“I thought you liked music.”

“This shirt gets really excited when it hears music.” James said, smiling. It may have just been the light, but Sara saw James’s features light up when he smiled. “It’s almost time for class. I suggest we get there on time.”

Sara looked at the clock. She had about two minutes to get to class, and she still had to get to her locker. “Good idea.”

During fifth hour, Sara repeatedly caught herself starring at James. Sara usually didn’t have crushes, but this might, only might, be an exception. Sara started humming to herself quietly. James’s “shirt” started glowing.

Startled, Sara stopped humming, the light dimmed. Cautiously, Sara started humming again, this time a bit louder and faster. James glowed even brighter. James turned around to face Sara. He gave her a thumbs up, and turned back to the teacher.

Nobody in the class seemed concerned by the strange light around James, although she saw a few interested looks coming his way.

After class, Sara asked James, “Why were you glowing?” There was no real need to jump around the question. If James really did glow, he would know the reason. If Sara just turned out to be crazy, and she already suspected it, there was no harm in asking.

James looked around, then smiled as he said, “I’ll tell you tomorrow.” He left humming “Tomorrow” from Annie, the strange orange light surrounding him. Sara watched him go with a mixture of exasperation and amusement.

Sara went home and watched a movie after doing her homework. The story was actually pretty cheesy. The special effects weren’t that great, and the plot wasn’t even worth mentioning. The dragon in the show wasn’t any better, but it reminded Sara of when those people had attacked her. She thought back to when that person had said she was a dragon. What had he meant by that? Why did they attack her in the first place? Mageton wasn’t a common place where people got attacked. Nothing dangerous ever happened in Mageton, not even an infected dog bite.

Sara rolled her eyes and got ready for bed. It seemed like she couldn’t figure out anything, and she valued sleep more than the futile effort of solving puzzles she knew nothing about. She fell asleep to the troubling events from the past couple of days bouncing around in her head.